DENVER: Third parties come and go, but the Green Party shows no signs of
fading away. Environmentalists are fielding 120 candidates in 20
states and stand to be spoilers in two New Mexico congressional
races. In Albuquerque the Greens' Bob Anderson pulled enough
votes from Democrat Phil Maloof in a June special election to
let Republican Heather Wilson win the seat. Now there's a
rematch, and Anderson may ruin the Democrats' chances again -- causing Maloof to adopt much of the Greens' platform
and House minority leader Richard Gephardt to ask Anderson to
drop out, a plea that was rejected.

Meanwhile, in the Third
District, Tom Udall, son of Stewart Udall, appears to be winning
back a seat lost to the GOP'S Bill Redmond in 1997's special
election. But the Greens' Carol Miller, whose showing helped
Redmond last time, could again damage the Dems. This prospect
does not seem to alarm the Greens much. "Third parties tend to
exist only to nudge other candidates along," says Dean Myerson,
the Greens' national secretary. "They don't take themselves
seriously. But we do. We're grassroots."